Hi All,
looking at investing in the US and have been doing some research on some of the companies that are acting as buying agents/brokers for properties in the US.
I would be interested to hear feedback on anyone that has used this company above.
thanks
Paul
Hi Paul,
Have you considered avoiding these companies and doing it yourself, so you really know where your hard-earned cash is going? As Steve McKnight told many of us at a recent seminar – “don’t be a lazy investor”. (referring to using the services of turn-key companies). There may be (much) more work, but if you do your DD properly, much higher returns.
Think about this :-
how hard did you have to work to earn your money in the first place? So, why would you throw a large portion of it away with large and duplicated fees, and middlemen who make big profits from rehabbing and flipping properties that they buy dirt cheap and sell to unsuspecting Aussies who place blind faith in them?There are obviously many pitfalls either way to be very wary of, but keep reading through this forum and I think you will see a strong case for being an “active” investor. There’s a lot of great information here, but be careful :- Many are openly wanting to sell you something, and that’s fine – you can see them for what they are and decide if you want to engage them. They may offer something useful to you. Some keep promoting certain areas because that’s where they have established their business. But then there are those who are more surreptitious and present themselves as objective investors generously sharing their experience, but actually are “plants” who relentlessly plug certain companies. It won’t take you long to spot those ones.
Just my view though!
TH
Hi Paul
I appreciate your interest in our company, 888 US Real Estate, and look forward to hearing from some of our buyers about their experience.
Regarding Treasure Hunter's comments, we do not have any interest in the properties we source for our clients. We act simply as buyers agents with the best interests of our clients as the most important factor. We do not receive secret commissions or any payments from sellers and have absolutely no conflict of interest. All costs are fully disclosed including our fee and we provide full access to all our contacts, so you can establish your own relationship with service providers in the US.
We are unique in this stand for integrity and full disclosure. Our currency is trust. Some of our clients have tried other providers and experienced some of the pitfalls described. For instance, one of the Kansas City properties we listed, 5631 Virginia Ave, was also offerred through our wholesaler to another agency in Australia, also mentioned in this forum. We listed the purchase price as $38,000 and declared all the buying costs including our fee for a total buying cost of $43,100 with a net return of 18.2%. Our client provided us with the other agency's marketing jacket and there was no disclosure of their commission and a price of $62,500! The net return from them on exactly the same property was 12.5%! A 50% mark-up would take a long time to recover and the property becomes an instant liability, rather then a well bought asset with built in equity.
What was even more frightening was the comparative price analysis they provided to support their extreme mark-up, which in my experience was flagrant deception. The properties were not comparable at all.
I hate seeing people getting ripped off. One of the biggest risks in US property investment is the moral integrity of the people you are dealing with, both in Australia and in the USA. Another is vacancy. I have seen and heard many stories of people buying a property through an agent, getting it renovated, and then having it vacant for months, sometimes being trashed and vandalised in the process. Atlanta is very risky for this, particularly in the inner metro areas.
When I was in the US in October I spent a lot of time in different cities building on our reliable relationships to provide properties that were renovated and tenanted, mostly with Government guaranteed rent. Fortunately we are now able to buy 10-15 properties a week for clients that have tenants and reliable management already in place, without extreme mark-up or opportunistic marketeering.
I do not want this to sound like advertising, nor do we need further business from members of this forum. I do like to see people treated fairly though and strongly advise people ensure that their due diligence is extensive and that they always contract an independent building inspection and market appraisal before they enter into any unconditional contract. If more people did this it would clear out some of the greed and double dealings that too frequently occur when buying in the US.
It is possible to invest in the US with safety and get great cash flows and bargain prices on properties that are well below their construction costs.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about investing in the USA.
Many thanks
Vincent Selleck – US Buyers Agent
888 US Real Estate Pty Ltd
[email protected] / 02 66857 888 / http://www.888usrealestate.com.auTreasure Hunter wrote:Hi Paul, Have you considered avoiding these companies and doing it yourself, so you really know where your hard-earned cash is going? As Steve McKnight told many of us at a recent seminar – "don't be a lazy investor". (referring to using the services of turn-key companies). There may be (much) more work, but if you do your DD properly, much higher returns. Think about this :- how hard did you have to work to earn your money in the first place? So, why would you throw a large portion of it away with large and duplicated fees, and middlemen who make big profits from rehabbing and flipping properties that they buy dirt cheap and sell to unsuspecting Aussies who place blind faith in them? There are obviously many pitfalls either way to be very wary of, but keep reading through this forum and I think you will see a strong case for being an "active" investor. There's a lot of great information here, but be careful :- Many are openly wanting to sell you something, and that's fine – you can see them for what they are and decide if you want to engage them. They may offer something useful to you. Some keep promoting certain areas because that's where they have established their business. But then there are those who are more surreptitious and present themselves as objective investors generously sharing their experience, but actually are "plants" who relentlessly plug certain companies. It won't take you long to spot those ones. Just my view though! THthis post is spot on the money, go have a look at the "my USA thread", an air of dodgyness at best
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